Cabinet.



H. W. BERTRAM.

CABINET.

APPLmATmN FILED ocT. l1` i915.

ni sra PATENT @F.Fllld.

HENRY I/V. BERTRAIVI, OF FRAN KFORT, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO MCDOU'G'AILCOMPANY,

OF FRANKFURT, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

CABINET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 2G, 19,17.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Henny W. BERTRAM, acitizen of the United States, residing at Frankfort, in the county ofClinton and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Cabinet, ofwhich the following is a specication.

The object of my invention is to produce certain details of constructionof curtain front kitchen cabinets, by means of which gaps between thecurtain andcoperating parts of the cabinet may be eliminated in a simpleand eliicient manner, the construction being such that the curtain andits runways may be formed at a minimum of expense.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention. Figure l is aperspective view of a kitchen cabinet embodying` my invention; Fig. 2 .acentral vertical section of the curtain closed compartment with thecurtain in closed position; Fig. 3 a fragmentary detail, 0n a somewhatlarger scale, showing more accurately the upper end of the curtain, thecurtain guide or runway, and the meeting rail at the upper end of thecompartment, with the curtain in closed position; Fig. t a view similarto Fig. 3, but showing the curtain in open position and in endelevation, and also showing adjacent portions of the cabinet at and nearthe licor of the curtained compartment; Fig. 5 a view similar to Fig.4L, but showing the curtain in closed posit-ion.

In the drawings, 10, 10, indicate the side walls of the superstructureof a kitchen cabinet, said walls having formed in their inner facesrunways 11 for the reception of the ends of the slats of the flexiblecurtain 12. rThis curtain, as to its main body, is formed in the usualmanner by a series of slats having mating edges and held together by asheet of iexible material 13 to which the slats are secured. For ease ofmanipulation the runways 11 are slightly wider than the combinedthickness of the slats and connecting web, as clearly shown in Figs. 3,4: and 5, the ends of the slats projecting into the runways. Each ofthese runways has a front vertical portion, a horizontal portion, and arear vertical portion, the front vertical portion and the horizontalportion being connected by an eased curve 111 which lies just below theplane of the platform 15 which forms the bottom of the curtainedcompartment.

As previously stated, the curtain 12, as to its main body, is formed inthe usual manner of narrow mating slats. The upper slat 16, however, isslightly thicker and wider, `as shown in Fig. 3. The ends are thinned,as indicated at 16', Fig. to properly enter the runways 11, the portion16"' extending toward the front between the sides 10, 10, and theportion 1G extending toward the rear and cooperating with the forwardedge of platform 15 when the curtain is lowered, vas indicated in Fig.4. In my prior Patent, No. 1,113,928, this upper bar of the curtain isshown as being' formed in two pieces, such construction being necessaryin order to permit the withdrawal of the curtain from the rear of thecabinet, the upper Vwidened bar of the curtain being removably secured'to the upper standard slat of the curtain. In order to eliminate anyscrew holes in the upper surface of the upper curtain bar, so that theextension of platform 15 may be free from depressions, I have found itadvisable to make the upper slat of the curtain non-detachable, thewidened portions 16 and 16 being integral with the final slat of thecurtain, as clearly shown in Fig. el. In order to permit the withdrawalof the curtain from the cabinet with this construction, I make the lowerbar 19 of the curtained compartment readily removable, so that by theremoval of this bar, a throat, beneath the platform 15, of sufficientwidth to permit the passage of the wide portion of bar `16, is formed,the curtain being withdrawable through the widened portions 2O at therear of the runways 11.

As previously stated, the runways 11 are of such width as to afford afree and easy guideway for the ends of the slats 12, and in order toprevent, as much as possible, any noise during the operation of thecurtain, the curved portion 14 of the runway must lie a sutlicientdistance from the inner upper corner of the bar 19 to avoid any scrapingof the curtain slats upon this bar. 0n the other hand, it is quitedesirable that when the curtain is in its closed position, `as shown inFig. 2, there should be no gap between the upper inner corner of the bar19 and the curtain. In order to produce this result, I attach to thefinal slat 12 of the curtain, an end bar 21 which is somewhat thickerthan the final slat 12 and is attached to the lower edge of the finalslat 12 in such manner as to have its excess thickness projecting towardthe front of the curtain. The forward lower corners at the ends of thebar 21 are eased away, as indicated at 22, so that, when the curtain isbrought to its closed position, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5, the weight ofbar 21 will cause slat 12 to swing forwardly so that the front face, orupper front corner 23 of bar 21, will be swung into engagement with theupper inner corner of bar 19, thus automatically closing this gap andgiving the curtain the appear'- ance of tightly closing the compartment.The construction is, nevertheless, such that, as soon as the curtain isstarted on its downward movement, there will be no dragging of bar 21 onthe upper inner corner of the bar 19, and, consequently, there will beno marring of that face of the curtain which is exposedv when in itsclosed position.

As previously stated, slats 12 are held by the curved portion 11i of theguides sufficiently far from the bar 19 to prevent any dragging of theforward faces of the slats over this bar.

IVhen the curtain is in its closed position, as indicated in Figs. 2 and3, it is quite desirable that a. neat and tight joint be made betweenthe upper bar 16 of the curtain and the fixed cross bar 25 at the upperend of the compartment. The upper surface of the widened portion of thebar 16 lies at an acute angle tothe main body of the bar, in order thatit may form a straight continuation of the upper face of plat-form 15and on its forward face near the upper edge, bar 16 is provided with arib 26. The xed bar 25 is, therefore, provided on its under edge with agroove 27, one face of which is at an angle corresponding to the angleof thel upper edge of bar 16 and the other face of which issubstantially vertical, so as to overlie the outer face of bar 16immediately above the rib 26. The curtain is held in its closed positionby means of a latch 30 which/engages a finger 31` carried by bar 16,said bar 16 also having finger pieces 32 by means of which the curtainmay be readily lifted. When the finger 31 is engaged by latch 30, theupper edge 0f bar 16 lies snugly in the groove 27 of bar 25 and theinclined face of said groove serves as a substantial backing to preventany inward pressing of bar 16.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a kitchen cabinet, a compartment having a vertical open face,curtain runways in its sides adjacent said open face and extendedlaterally beneath its bottomplatform, a finish bar arranged at the lowerend of the open face of the compartmentbelow the bottom platform andbeyond the runways, a slatted flexible curtain mounted in said runwaysand formed to close the open face of the compartment, said slattedcurtain having a weighted lower slat formed to swing forwardly andoutwardly so as to contact with the finish bar when the curtain is inclosed position, the main slats of the Y curtain and the runways beingso formed as to keep the slats free from said finish bar.

2. In a kitchen cabinet, a compartment having a vertical open face,curtain runways in its sides adjacent said open face and extended-laterally beneath its bottom platform, a stationary bar arranged acrossthe upper end of the open face of the compartment and provided with agroove in its under face, the upper slat of the iiexible curtain havingits free edge materially thicker thanthe thickness'of the main slats andformed to produce an extension of the bottom platform when the curtainis in open position, the forward upper corner and upper edge of saidslat and the groove in the upper fixed bar being formed to mate witheach other and the upper fixed bar forming a backing to prevent theinward movement of the upper slat of the curtain when the curtain isclosed, and cooperating fastening devices carried by the upper slat ofthe curtain and the fixed bar to hold the curtain kin closed position.

3. In a kitchen cabinet, a compartment having a vertical open face,curtain runways in its sides adjacent said open face and extendedlaterally beneath its bottom platform, a. finish bar arranged at thelower end of the open faceof the compartment below the bottom platformand beyond .the runways, the said finish bar being readily removable, aslatted curtain mounted in said runways and freely slidable through thethroat between the bottom platform and the finish bar except the finalslat of said curtain, said final slat having a widened` free edgecapable of coperating with the bottom platform to form an extensionthereof when the curtain is in open position, 'the said final slat beingmovable with the curtain beneath the bottom platform when the finish baris removed from the structure.

In witness whereof, I HENRY W. BERTRAM have hereunto set my hand atFrankfort, Indiana, this 7th day of ctOber, A. D.V one thousand ninehundred and sixteen..

y, HENRY w. BERTRAM. Y

Vifitnesses t BERGEN LA GRANGE,

kE. E. Bassum.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

